Glottodidactica. An International Journal of Applied Linguistics

Intensive und extensive Methode im Fremdsprachenunterrich

Szulc, Aleksander

German

Intensive und extensive Methode im Fremdsprachenunterricht

The Institute of Applied Linguistics at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna

Zabrocki, Ludwik

REPORTS 
L U D W I K ZABROCKI 
The Institute of Applied Linguistics 
at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań 
Before 1939 there were no special departments of the methodology of foreign 
language teaching at Polish universities. It was a domain of secondary school 
teachers. The problems of teaching foreign languages lay beyond university inter­
ests. The young grammarian linguistics did not help in the development of 
a scientific approach to these problems. Linguistics at that time was mostly occupied 
with historical-comparative studies. From all the branches of linguistics only young 
grammarian phonetics supplied some new data to the methods of teaching. Thus it 
were mainly phoneticians who dealt with the problems of teaching foreign lan­
guages. With this exception the so called grammatical-translation method was dom­
inating. This method was borrowed from teaching classical languages; it is 
necessary to say that as far as teaching classical languages is concerned this 
method certainly had its advantages, but it was of no use in teaching modern 
languages. There were attempts to replace it by a direct method; Berlitz school of 
teaching foreign languaegs was founded on this method. It was not very much 
different from the way tutors (taught foreign languages. This method was based 
on large numbers theory, it did not take into account the economy of time. The 
structures of languages having not yet been worked out, it rightly chose the way 
of building matrices by the actual use of the language. The followers of this 
method did not, of course, know about the above mentioned theoretical foundations. 
In secondary schools the direct method had to fail since it did not pay any 
attention to time. Although the grammatical-translation method gave concrete 
results in the shape of knowledge about a language it did not, in any case, help 
to acquire fluency in speaking a foreign language. 
Modern structural linguistics made a real revolution in the methodology of 
teaching foreign languages. Structuralism takes an interest in a synchronical state 
of a language in its structural and functional aspects. Working-out language 
structures and determining their functions brought new ideas into the methodology 
of teaching foreign languages. Harold E. Palmer was the first who tried to base 
the direct method on the premises of structural-functional linguistics (the term 
"structural" or "functional" only, with reference to modern linguistics, does not 
include all its essential features). He presented his ideas in his book On the Scien-
tific Study and Teaching of Languages (1917). De Saussure's approach to 
language analysis also influenced the methods of teaching. The presentation 
of the subject of teaching alone, i.e. the presentation of a language as a system 
of structures as postulated by de Saussure determined to some degree the methods 
of teaching this language. American linguists also followed this way at the time 
of the Second World War. At first, the Americans were not interested in teaching 
132 Reports 
foreign languages and the secondary school curriculum did not include them. 
The English language was enough as a means of communication in trade and 
other contacts with the world. The situation which arose during the Second World 
War changed this state of things. The US Army asked linguists to work out pos­
sibly quick methods of mastering foreign languages in a certain limited range. 
In this way American linguists started organizing scholarly work on the method­
ology of teaching foreign languages (Cf. W. G. Moulton Linguistics and Language 
Teaching in the United States. 1940—1960). 
Their main aim was, and partly is, to work out an "intensive method" of 
teaching foreign languages. They even worked out half-year courses which made 
it possible to master a foreign language in a certain range. They turned attention 
to the interference of the native language on learning the structures of a foreign 
language. The basic rule and the sign-post of the American "linguistic method" 
was mastering the structures of a language through "sentence patterns". Frequent 
drills were to quicken the time of learning a foreign language. The works of Char­
les C. Fries and his disciples were the peak of this method. Great stress was put 
on language laboratories. An information and publication centre of the methodol­
ogy of foreign language teaching ("Centre of Applied Linguistics"), created in 
Washington and directed by Prof. Fergusson, grew into a large institution. 
As we have seen from the above consideration, linguistic problems were the 
basis of the new method worked out by American linguists, namely the new 
models of language structures were given. These models automatically influenced 
the method of teaching. At first, however, they neglected the psychology of 
teaching and general pedagogy. It is obvious that general pedagogy by itself could 
not afford to find new methods of teaching foreign languages. Its latest achieve­
ments, however, may be applied to the methodology of teaching foreign languages. 
It is surprising that in the USA there is no special institute of the method­
ology of foreign language teaching. Publications on this subject are being 
done in centres of pure linguistics or in other institutes where foreign languages 
are taught, like universities, colleges, translators' schools, special schools of 
foreign languages. American theoretists do their scholarly work individually. 
Classical structuralism gave us modern methods of teaching foreign lan­
guages. Recently we have seen a further development of structural-functional lin­
guistics. Mathematical linguistics of different kinds has come out. It influences the 
methodology of teaching foreign languages, and it is certain that, for example, 
transformation grammar will exert its influence, too. Now we witness a new step 
in the development of mathematical linguistics or, perhaps in general, of structural-
-functional linguistics, namely cybernetical linguistics. It includes not only static 
language structures but also the whole communication process. Classical struc­
tural-functional linguistics was static. It treated language structures as static 
objects. Classical structuralists worked out the structures and their function by 
a written or spoken (tape-recorded) text. They were neither interested in the 
dynamics of these structures nor showed them and their functions in a communi­
cation act. They excluded "parole" from linguistic problems. But the language as 
a bilateral information body in a shape of graphic or aural transformation of 
a segment of the transformational chain is only a part of the mechanism, i.e. of 
a communication system of human beings. Language in itself is not only a store 
of written or taped texts but also primarily a store of matrices in the language 
centre of the brain. The characters of the inner and outer stores differ principally. 
The language centre of the brain does not store concrete sentences or texts but 
Reports 133 
concrete morphemes. Sentences and texts are built on the basis of certain structural 
matrices (Cf. p. 132). 
Until now structural linguistics as well as mathematical linguistics treated 
language structures as linear. Cybernetic linguistics treats the structures of com­
munication process and the information body as feedback systems. It introduces 
to language analysis dynamic structures through the transformation of the body 
of language information and thus dynamizes the static structures of classical struc­
turalism. 
Arising cybernetical linguistics, characterised above, as a part of science 
about the communication process of human beings enters into the problems of the 
methodology of teaching foreign languages. Cybernetical linguistics as a set of 
systems of human language communication gave us the second "what" in foreign 
language teaching. Structural linguistics gave us the first "what" in a new 
shape, i.e. the language worked out as structures and their different functions. The 
second "what" may bel partly defined as the first "what" in the circulation of 
the communication process. Feedback is the characteristic feature of sets of commu­
nication, i.e. these sets have both transfer of information circuits and control and 
government circuits. The methodology of foreign language teaching has to give 
a thorough answer "how" to teach these two "whats". It has to search for the best 
way of building structural matrices of a foreign language, of building store matrices, 
of adopting transformation chains in speaking, i.e. transformation matrices with 
a change of material substance bearing meaning. All these problems are the sub­
ject of the modern methodology of foreign language teaching. The very construction 
of matrices and stores in language centres of the brain is the subject of linguistics 
while the methodology of foreign language teaching has to seek the best and 
quickest means of teaching a given foreign system of language communication. 
Cybernetical linguistics has to supply the methodology with full data about this 
system in its all transformational stages. The methodologist will need help from 
other related branches of science, e.g. psychology, physiology, general pedagogy and 
sociology. He will not, of course, do research in the above mentioned fields, but 
he will use their achievements from his point of view. 
Classical structural-functional linguistics was divided into pure and applied. 
The applied cybernetical linguistics works out the concrete language material 
from the point of view of adopting this language. It will give us the second "what", 
i.e. whole concrete transformational sets of a speaking act based on corresponding 
store matrices (outer and inner). It will show in a great measure how to adopt the 
sets of speaking acts. The methodology based to a large extend on elements of 
general cybernetics will have to apply the achievements of the above mentioned 
related branches of science, i.e. psychology, physiology and general pedagogy. It 
will have to cooperate with electroacoustics since it starts using language labora­
tories. A clear distinction has to be made between applied cybernetical linguistics 
and the methodology of foreign language teaching. Applied linguistics works out 
the two "whats" as a subject of teaching while the methodology of teaching 
foreign languages with the help of related branches of science works on the prob­
lem "how" to adopt these two "whats". That makes the methodology undoubtedly 
an independent science. In the past it was usually one auxiliary branch of science 
that exerted a decisive influence on the methodology of foreign language teaching. 
In the times of classical structural linguistics it was linguistics and hence the 
methodology was included in applied linguistics. This situation has not changed 
even now. The methodology of foreign language teaching is still included in 
linguistic science. But it is a scientifically independent field although temporarily 
134 Reports 
it may practically enter into the range of applied linguistics (of different types). 
It is, as we have mentioned, conditioned historically. Linguistics brought into 
methodology new trends of development. The necessity of cooperation between the 
methodology of foreign language teaching and related disciplines like psychology 
of teaching, physiology, etc. is obvious. Recently American scholars have come to 
this conclusion, too (Caroll, Lado and others). 
The Institute of Applied Linguistics in Poznań will mainly do research work 
in the methodology of foreign language teaching, i.e. on "how" to adopt these two 
"whats". Since there are no institutes of pure and applied cybernetics this institute 
will have of necessity to work on these problems, too, but from the point of 
view of cybernetical linguistic theory. The static structures of classical struc­
turalism will be looked upon from the point of view of their function in the commu­
nication process. Our stand is that it is the communication process which deter­
mines basically the structures treated by classical linguistics in a static way. It 
seems to us that structural statistic is fundamentally determined by the kinematic 
function of these structures in the act of communication. 
The Institute of Applied Linguistics which is being set up now is only formally 
a new institution. Actually it has been a section of the Department of Germanic 
Linguistics for the last ten years. The time has come for it to be independent. The 
Institute has also taken over, as we have pointed out in another place, experimental 
courses held so far by the Department. Besides, the Institute of Applied Linguistics 
resumes research work on programmed teaching. In this field it will follow the theo­
retical assumption of cybernetics. It will also resume the task of constructing new 
language laboratories. The researches will go in two directions: 1. improving exist­
ing types of language laboratories with regard to technical equipment and 2. 
working out adequate methods of laboratory teaching of foreign languages. It 
seems to us that it is just a beginning of working out modern methods of labora­
tory teaching. From the theoretical point of view existing laboratories with semi-
isolated boxes and ear-phones are not adequate for essential foundations of foreign 
language teaching in comparison with functioning of natural sets of oral com­
munication acts. A laboratory corresponding to modern theories of states of sets 
of communication act should have loud-speakers and not ear-phones. Such a labor­
atory has to be, of course, properly damped. We assume that playing back and 
listening to his own taped voice by a learner and comparing it with teacher's 
voice is basicly wrong. This practice must lead to building a wrong matrix which 
produces sounds. All these are theoretical assumptions which have to be verified 
in practice. We shall be very glad to enter into contact with institutes or scholars 
working on these problems. Our stand is that the next step in the development 
of language laboratories is laboratories with loud-speakers. And the next will 
probably bring laboratories self-controlling the process of learning foreign lan­
guages. We shall try to bring research work in this direction in our Institute. 
Our article is to be published in IRAL (Ist der zweite Schaltungskreis ein Auf-
baukreis?). 
The Institute will pay special attention to teaching foreign languages in 
disadvantageous conditions, e.g. where there are a large number of pupils in one 
class. It is necessary to state objectively that in Europe the conditions are not 
advantageous in this respect. It would be very good, then, to test the means which 
make possible attainment of maximum effects of teaching in such conditions. 
Some experiments have to be made. 
Reports 135 
The Institute will continue its research work on how to adopt and repro­
duce language structures without reflection. There will also be continued exper­
iments to determine the method of teaching according to the age of 
learners. We have already made some experiments on this problem and we have 
obtained interesting results (Cf. Ludwik Zabrocki Experimental Courses of Foreign 
Language Teaching, Glottodidactica, p. 137). The Institute will work on other prob­
lems, like testing the degree of perception of structures and words in relation 
to time, the motivation of a lesson, etc. Special experiments will be devoted to 
the problems of intensive teaching and the rehabilitation of pronunciation. The 
latter is especially important because of the poor language knowledge which the 
secondary school gives to its pupils. There will be held comparative studies on 
applying various methods of teaching. Our opinion is that full elimination of 
grammar, i.e. meta-language, from the process of teaching is not proper. There is 
no time to automatize single structures. Therefore we do not think that gram­
mar as a whole can be eliminated from the process of teaching. We assume that 
at the end of introducing structures grammatical rules should be given in a substi­
tutional way. These rules should serve as a means of eliminating different struc­
tural chains. In our opinion it is the main aim of grammatical rules. We do not 
think it is good to build sentences and texts on the basis of grammatical rules 
or on generative grammar. And here some experiments have to be made to verify 
the theory. A special treatment of allomorphs, allophones and allographs seems to 
us to be a very important problem. We do not think that in the process of learn­
ing it would be proper to adopt all these subtleties through substitution. The econ­
omy of time does not allow us to do it. We have nothing to do with the Berlitz 
direct method and its contemporary followers of the pure linguistic methodology. 
These methods are good for tutors but not in condensed school teaching. 
We shall be very glad if newly set up institutes and centres of applied lin­
guistics take up some from the above mentioned problems. We are interested in ex­
change of results and experience. There are lots of such institutes in Western 
Europe, e.g. in Stockholm, Nancy, Besançon, Saint Clou, Sèvres, Heidelberg, and 
in the USSR, e.g. the institutes in Kiev and Moscow did interesting work on the 
methodology of teaching and programming. Our Institute has contacts with Amer­
ican centres, especially with Hunter College (Prof. Finocchiaro), Columbia Univer­
sity (Prof. Dykstra), California State College at Fullerton (Prof. Mathieu). 
It is a fact that the methodology of teaching foreign languages is an inde­
pendent branch of science which cannot be passed over in science. It wins more 
and more acknowledgement even in the university circles. The times of the 1 9 t h 
and, partly, of the first half of the 20 t h centuries belong to the past. Here and 
there the traditional scientific disciplines look unfriendly at the new science in 
university buildings lout the time works for the university rank of the method­
ology of foreign language teaching. Setting up the Institute of Applied Lin­
guistics at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań is a concrete sign of it. 


English

The Institute of Applied Linguistics at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

Hrsg. v. Ruth Klappenbach u. Wolfgang Steinitz; Bearb.: Ruth Klappenbach u. H. Malige-Klappenbach; Lfg 1/2: A — annehmen, Lfg 3: annehmlich-Aufbruch, Lfg 4: aufbrucn(s) — Ausführung; Berlin: Akademie Verlag, Lfg 1/2.3 — 1961; Lfg 4 __ 1962; im Rahmen der Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für deutsche Sprache und Literatur der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin

Toby-Tereszyńska, Krystyna

Wörterbuch der Deutschen Gegenwartssprache

Do’s and Dont’s for the Teacher of Foreign Language

Kaczmarski, Stanisław P.

STANISŁAW P. KACZMARSKI 
Do's and Dont's for the Teacher of Foreign Languages 
The subject covers quite a range of problems concerning general 
education, didactics, psychology, descriptive and comparative linguistics, 
and methodics in the exact sense of the word. Here an attempt will be 
made to briefly consider a number of points as regards the training and 
work of the foreign language teacher. 
To understand the responsibility of the teacher and the importance 
of his work one should take into account the influence that a person may 
exert upon a group of people who are subordinated to him for a certain 
period of time. It is the teacher's personality and his ability to become 
a leader that contribute immensely to the successful cooperation with 
his students. If the teacher has studied the psychology of a social group 
and if he is able to base his techniques on sound principles of motivation 
and linguistic behaviour he will certainly achieve considerable results 
and succeed in satisfying the needs and interests of his students. In 
short he should know how to make them learn (that is, to give them the 
solid basis for their individual study), encourage and help them overcome 
all difficulties and possible handicaps by means of proper and systematic 
instruction and guidance. In other words his carefully chosen stimuli 
applied to the pupil should cause the latter to react to them, each stim­
ulus and reaction making the pupil more proficient in using the lan­
guage. The art of teaching consists essentially in making use of the right 
stimulus at the right moment. Of course this requires a thorough prep­
aration of the instructor as concerns his knowledge of the subject to 
be taught, of teaching procedures and of all kinds of visual and mechan­
ical aids to be used in class. 
It is obvious that in order to make his students assimilate a foreign 
language the teacher himself must be proficient in it. Since most of the 
teachers are non-native speakers of Lt (language taught) — they should 
continue to be students of the language with the purpose of mastering it. 
This task is especially crucial when the assumption of the course or the 
teacher's ambition is to form productive skills in the spoken medium 
110 S. P . K a c z m a r s k i 
of Lt in the students, and it can only be achieved by speaking. There­
fore every teacher ought to keep in touch with the native speakers of the 
language, read widely in the language, attend refresher courses, listen 
to the records or broadcasts on the wireless and watch sound films in Lt. 
It is not enough, however, to know Lt very well to become an effi­
cient teacher. It is no wonder that a large number of the native speakers 
of the language often fail when it comes to teaching it to foreigners 
(particularly beginners). The teacher must be well acquainted with the 
mechanism, that is, the phonology and structure of both the Lt and the 
pupils' vernacular to base the process of teaching and learning on correct 
and scientific principles, to be able to understand the learners' specific 
difficulties and needs, and to find out the best means to solve their 
problems, to be consistent in making the students acquire linguistic habits 
by introducing the language material step by step in logical order, and 
give sufficient explanation when necessary. The teacher, then, should 
lose no opportunity of adding to his knowledge and should not stick to 
the same textbook year after year. On the other hand he ought to keep 
his own note-book going and collect examples of utterances, and con­
centrate on any point on which he may be lacking in confidence. 
The teacher must be familiar with teaching materials in order to 
know to what extent he can rely on them, what he is supposed to do 
with his students within each term or semester, what sort of supple­
mentary books or readings can be used and what degree of difficulty 
they represent. Besides he must be well acquainted with the syllabus 
of the whole course and know what kind of drills and exercises will be 
useful to help the learners memorize new constructions and vocabulary, 
and reinforce their actual knowledge of the language. He must also be 
aware of the possibility of certain changes or shifts in the course of 
teaching as far as the speech material is concerned in order to bring it 
as near real life as possible. 
The teacher must be experienced in methods of teaching. It means 
that he should be given sufficient instruction and training on how to 
teach most effectively, that is, what classroom techniques can be used 
and how the whole teaching procedure ought to be organized to make 
lessons attractive, varied, economical and successful. In this connection 
it seems worth pointing out that the university programme of studies for 
foreign language teachers, as well as that in teachers' training colleges 
should be modified and include special classes devoted to the classroom 
procedures and use of audio-visual aids with regard to intensive language 
practice, the aim being the formation of instructors very well quali­
fied technically and not only theoretically. The in-service and summer 
refresher courses for teachers should not only give them a chance to 
Do's and Dont's for the Teacher 111 
study selected aspects of phonology, grammar and lexis but also prima­
rily to brush up their practical knowledge of the Lt concerned through 
specially prepared language drills and exercises which at the same time 
would serve as examples of various teaching techniques. 
The teacher should always be experimenting. He should make use of 
his own initiative and enthusiasm to design and practise new drills and 
exercises helpful to his students — often on the spur of the moment. 
Routine is a very important factor but there must be enough room for 
improvisation and fresh ideas in the instructor's work. Experimentation 
concerns both the teaching procedures and some general assumptions 
which every teacher is bound to make before attempting to tackle any 
language problem in the classroom. Therefore he must always be ready 
to introduce some modification and never stick to the same forms of work, 
even if they have proved efficient, because in a new situation it may 
happen that something else will be better and more appropriate. Besides 
what suits one group of people may be inadequate or not particularly 
helpful as far as others are concerned. That is why the more variety the 
teacher can bring into the classroom work the more fascinating the les­
son becomes. It goes without saying, however, that everything the teach­
er introduces should be subordinated to both the ultimate and imme­
diate objectives of teaching. 
In order to help his students learn the language the teacher must: 
a. give them a reliable model to imitate, that is, he must be both 
a "guide" and an "informant", b. be able to adjust and adapt his "meth­
ods" to the particular teachnig situation and use those techniques of 
work which are best at the moment (flexibility of teaching procedures), 
c. make the students stay interested by arranging situations which 
require active participation. One more important thing is to give the 
pupils some encouragement often by helping them realize how much 
progress they have already made in their study. This is just what stimu­
lates them best and thus the whole process of learning becomes more 
enjoyable. The teacher's primary task, then, should be to practise the 
group and simple sentence patterns with the pupils as early and as 
thoroughly as possible, so that they could master the material and 
assimilate it for good. 
In most cases the teaching of a foreign language takes place only 
during the lesson and there are practically very few occasions for the 
learners to speak the language outside the classroom. That is why the 
teacher should realize the necessity of giving them the opportunity to 
hear sentences used often and significantly enough for the patterns of 
sounds, rhythm and intonation to form in their minds and make durable 
impressions there, that stand for something when they are repeated. 
112 S. P . K a c z m a r s k i 
Besides he should make his students use the patterns themselves to ex­
plore the situation they are in with the new tools of perception. It 
means that language teaching should be situational in so far as possible 
and the teacher ought to know how much time it will take the pupil to 
absorb a new word or sentence pattern before he can use it. 
To compensate for any inadequacies in his own pronunciation or flu­
ency the teacher should make use of aural aids such as tape-recorder and 
gramophone with the view of achieving a very intensive use of Lt in the 
classroom. Therefore it seems to be worth mentioning that there ought 
to be more instruction and above all p r a c t i c e than testing in language 
teaching. Constant repetition makes the assimilation of the material 
easier and more effective as it helps the students avoid the forming of bad 
habits and reinforces the newly acquired good habits and skills. In this 
way memorization becomes an unconscious process to some extent. At 
the same time, however, the teacher must be aware of the importance 
of immediate and tactful correction of the learners' mistakes in any cir­
cumstances. It is worth adding that teaching a language through speech 
makes it possible for the instructor to adapt all that he teaches to the 
needs, interests, experience and capabilities of whatever class faces him. 
Let the article be concluded with some statements referring to the 
practical aspect of the teacher's work, that is, when he finds himself in 
the classroom: 
a. The particular phases of teaching the language material should 
always be in the following order from the point of view of the learner: 
1. auding 
2. speaking (mimicry and repetition with necessary explanations plus 
practice in production by analogy) 
3. reading aloud (imitating the model — further practice in fluency 
plus explanation if needed) 
4. silent reading 
5. speaking on the basis of the given text (intensive oral work and 
limited oral composition, that is, drills of all kinds, question-answer 
technique, guided conversation, simple interviews and short talks) 
6. writing: (a) easy exercises of the repercussive type, (b) controlled 
written composition. 
This principle, taking into account the following four elements of the 
process of learning a new speech unit, i.e. perception, recognition, imi­
tation and reproduction, concerns all stages of the fundamental course 
(3—4 years with three or four hours per week). 
b. The teacher should aim at the students' overlearning, that is, 
a complete mastery of the presented patterns and functional words as 
well as a considerable number of carefully selected content words at 
Do's and Dont's for the Teacher 113 
every stage of the study instead of leaving the pupils in the state of 
uncertainty or confusion. 
c. The teacher should make all his students take equally active part 
in the lesson and aim at getting them to have their talking time three 
times as long as that of his. 
d. He should carefully introduce and drill all new sentence pat­
terns or linguistic items and use them in various contexts preferably in 
familiar vocabulary; he ought not to use unknown structures when talk­
ing to his pupils if he wants to make his speech clear and intelligible. 
e. The teacher should remember that his primary task is the forming 
of language habits in the students. 
f. He should not confuse his role with that of the textbook by teach­
ing everything from the unchanging texts and acting as an interpreter 
of them. 
g. The teacher should be an actor, stage-manager and conductor when 
necessary, that is, he should be able to arrange situations to give his stu­
dents the opportunity to practise new group or sentence patterns and 
the whole speech material that has already been acquired. 
h. Every lesson should be a link between what has been done and 
what is going to be taught but it ought to be a complete unit in itself 
at the same time and make a contribution to the pupils' growth in 
habits, skills and knowledge. 
i. Grammar should be taught through context supported by drill, 
thus making the process of assimilation as easy and near real life situ­
ations as possible, and not by means of consciously formulated rules 
based on purely theoretical considerations. Grammar should be the rec­
ognition of pattern. 
j. Explanations can be given by any means: 1. example, 2. context, 
3. definition, 4. translation or 5. short discussion in the students' vernac­
ular (grammatical points) — to make the meaning of the text or the 
use of the given structure clear to everyone and save time. 
k. The teacher should do his best to make the students' pronunciation 
intelligible by means of ear-training drills, use of phonetic transcription 
instead or along with traditional spelling in the first stages of learning 
as well as articulation, intonation and rhythm drills. 
1. Nothing should be given to the students as an assignment that has 
not yet been practised thoroughly in class. 
m. The teacher should know how and when to take advantage of 
all the obtainable audio-visual aids (language laboratory included) but 
he should also remember that nothing can replace him in the course of 
teaching. 
8 Glottodidactica 
114 S. P . K a c z m a r s k i 
n. He should know how and when to have his students do both the 
intensive and extensive reading and practise the material in class. 
o. The teacher should treat his group as a unit and a collection of 
individuals at the same time and thus try to combine what suits every­
body with what is needed by a particular pupil. 
p. He should never mock his students' mistakes. On the contrary he 
should help them acquire sound linguistic habits in a friendly way and 
stimulate them to further work. 
The above remarks express some basic principles of the writer's be­
lief and approach to teaching with reference to his own experience in 
conducting English language classes for adult learners. 


Do’s and Dont’s for the Teacher of Foreign Languages

Kubica, Stefan

Reviews 173 
wort mehrere Bedeutungen hat, werden 
in Klammern sinnverwandte deutsche 
Bezeichnungen angeführt, die das Auf­
finden der richtigen Anwendung er­
leichtern, z.B.: 
Wechsel m-s, — 1. (Änderung) 
zmiana, przemiana f 2. (Tausch) wy­
miana f 3. (Wechselbrief) weksel m. 
Dem Wörterbuch folgen vier Nach­
träge: wichtige geographische Namen, 
Zahlwörter, ein Verzeichnis der star­
ken und unregelmäßigen Verben sowie 
allgemein gebräuchliche Abkürzungen. 
In einer neuen Auflage sollten 
einige Ungenauigkeiten berichtigt wer­
den, z.B. Hochhaus bedeutet nur wy­
sokościowiec; punktowiec und dra­
pacz chmur haben ihre eigenen Ent-
sprechungen im Deutschen; Raketen­
antrieb darf nicht mit Düsenantrieb 
oder Strahlantrieb verwechselt wer­
den; Wellenbrecher=falochron und nicht 
łamacz fal, molo; wehklagen hat die 
Rektion über etwas und nicht um 
etw.; bei buchen fehlt die Fügung 
einen Platz buchen. In einem Wörter­
buch, das für Touristen bestimmt ist, 
vermißt man Wörter, wie: Camping­
beutel, Bootsverleih, Bootshaus, Fe­
rienaufenthalt, Liegewagen, Reisebeglei­
ter (mit der Bedeutung: pilot z ramie­
nia biura podróży), zelten, Zeltstadt u.a. 
Diese geringen Mängel sind leicht zu 
beheben. 
Die wissenschaftliche Leitung dieses 
Wörterbuches lag in den Händen von 
Dr. A. Bzdęga, Poznań. 
S. KUBICA 
* Das deutsch-polnische und polnisch-
-deutsche Wörterbuch von P. Kalina, das 
nach 1945 in wiederholten Auflagen erschie­
nen ist, entspricht nicht den neuzeitlichen 
Erfordernissen. Es ist eine Neuauflage der 
Vorkriegsausgabe, in der nur geringe Ände­
rungen vorgenommen wurden. Auch das von 
Langenscheidt in der Reihe Langenscheidts 
Universalwörterbuch 1958 als 14. Auflage 
erschienene deutsch-polnische und polnisch-
-deutsche Wörterbuch schafft keine Abhilfe. 
Doch sind u. W. Arbeiten an einem umfang­
reichen deutsch-polnischen Wörterbuch im 
Gange, das in absehbarer Zeit erscheinen soll. 
Deutsch-Polnisches Fachwörterbuch für Bauwesen. Redigiert von Dipl.-Ing. 
W. Wrzesień. Warszawa 1961. 
Słownik inżynieryjno-budowlany niemiecko-polski. Pod redakcją mgr. inż. 
W. Września. Warszawa 1961. 
Das Wörterbuch enthält etwa 35 000 
Stichwörter, die den Hauptgebieten des 
Bauwesens entnommen sind. Auch von 
den Hilfswissenschaften, wie Hydrologie, 
Hydrogeologie, Mathematik, Chemie u.a. 
wurde das Unentbehrlichste miteinbezo­
gen. Das Wortgut wurde von über 20 
Fachleuten gesammelt und bearbeitet. 
Auf kurze Hinweise für die Benutzung 
(in deutscher und polnischer Sprache) 
folgt das Wörterverzeichnis. Als Nach­
trag finden wir Abkürzungen der wich­
tigsten Fachausdrücke sowie der Bezeich­
nungen von Amtsstellen und Fachver­
bänden. Bei den Stichwörtern wird bei 
Substantiven das Genus angegeben. Die 
Zugehörigkeit des Wortes innerhalb der 
Fachgebiete wird durch besondere Hin­
weise fixiert. 
Bei der Auswahl der Stichwörter 
wurde mit großer Sorgfalt vorgegangen. 
Besondere Aufmerksamkeit widmete 
man modernem Wortgut, wie z.B. Bau­
sparen, Doppelstockwagen, Flugsteig, 
Großblockbau, schlüsselfertig, Schnee­
schleuder u.a. Es wurden auch Fachaus­
drücke aufgenommen, die bisher keine 
festen Entsprechungen im Polnischen 
haben. In diesen Fällen wird in Klam­
mern eine Definition gegeben, wie z.B. 
Anlieger (m) (właściciel działki przy­
legającej do drogi lub ulicy publicznej). 
Manchmal finden wir neben der polni­
schen Entsprechung eine beschreibende 
174 Reviews 
Erklärung des Wortes, z.B. Richtfest (n) 
„wiecha”, (uroczystość zakończenia wią­
zania dachu), Parkuhr (f) zegar parkin­
gowy (mechanizm zegarowy do oznacze­
nia długości postoju pojazdu). 
Bei der Wortauswahl vermeiden die 
Verfasser das Zeitwort und ziehen die 
substantivierte Form des Infinitivs vor, 
z.B. Aufteilen (n) der Stufen rozpla­
nowanie schodów. Vielleicht wäre es 
vorteilhafter das Verb aufzunehmen, 
von dem der Benutzer ohne Schwierig­
keiten das Substantiv ableiten könnte. 
Die Eintragung würde dann lauten: 
aufteilen po/dzielić, rozdzielić. Stufen 
aufteilen rozplanować schody. Dafür 
gibt es viele Beispiele; Besprengen, 
Beschlagen, Durchpressen, Durchtrop­
fen, Schneiden u.a. 
Und hier einige Ungenauigkeiten 
bzw. Fehler; Ascher (m) wurde fälsch­
lich mit klon (=Ahorn) wiedergegeben, 
Fassade und nicht: Façade, 
Längswelle und nicht Langwelle, 
Widerhall und nicht Wiederhall 
Mündung außer der Bedeutung (hydr) 
ujście dürfte auch wylot (ulicy) nicht 
fehlen, 
Viertel (m) wird als sąsiek übersetzt. 
Sowohl in der Genusangabe wie in der 
polnischen Entsprechung scheint ein 
Mißverständnis vorzuliegen. 
Zopfstil, das Wort hat keine Entspre­
chung im Polnischen, es wurde be­
schreibend erklärt als frühere Bezeich­
nung des Barock- oder Rokokostils 
(„dawna nazwa baroku albo rokoka”). 
Hierzu siehe das Wörterbuch der 
Kunst, Berlin 1957 („Mit dieser Be­
zeichnung belegt m a n . . . gewisse Er­
scheinungen der deutschen Kunst zwi­
schen Rokoko und Klassizismus, also 
etwa zwischen 1760 und 1780”). 
Unter den Bezeichnungen der Dorf­
formen fehlt Streudorf wieś samot­
nicza; wieś rozproszona, außer Rundling 
sollte man auch Rundplatzdorf geben. 
Die hier aufgeführten Ungenauig­
keiten — die keineswegs Anspruch auf 
Vollständigkeit erheben — sind leicht 
zu beseitigen. Wünschenswert wäre die 
Angabe der Aussprache, wenigstens bei 
Wörtern, die in dieser Hinsicht Schwie­
rigkeiten bieten, z.B. Chassis, Chor, 
Rouleau, Rangieren u.a. Auch möchte 
ich anregen, für eine Neuauflage ein 
polnisches Stichwortregister mit Hin­
weisen, die das Auffinden der deutschen 
Entsprechung ermöglichen, dem Wör­
terbuch als Nachtrag anzufügen. 
Auf die Bedeutung dieses Fach­
wörterbuchs braucht nicht besonders 
hingewiesen werden. Sie ist offensicht­
lich. Man darf dem Herausgeber und 
den Verfassern Anerkennung ausspre­
chen für ihre Leistung. Der schnelle 
Fortschritt auf dem Gebiete des Bau­
wesens, der neues Wortgut mit sich 
bringt, macht die Bearbeitung einer 
neuen Auflage dringend erforderlich. 
S. KUBICA 
Deutsch ale Fremdsprache. Zeitschrift zur Theorie und Praxis des Deutschunter­
richts für Ausländer. Herausgeber Herder-Institut, Leipzig. 
Das Herder-Institut der Karl-Marx-
Universität in Leipzig hatte bereits 
vor einigen Jahren den Versuch 
unternommen, eine Zeitschrift für 
Deutschlehrer im Ausland herauszuge­
ben 1. Nun findet dieses Vorhaben in 
der Vierteljahresschrift „Deutsch als 
Fremdsprache” seine Verwirklichung. 
Vom 1. Jahrgang (1964) liegen Heft 1 
und 2 vor. Eine Werbeschrift informiert 
über die Aufgaben, die sich Heraus­
geber und Redaktion gestellt haben. Die 
1 Deutsch. Zeitschrift für Lehrer im Ausland, als Manuskript gedruckt. Hrsg. vom 
Institut für Ausländerstudium der Karl-Marx-Universität, Leipzig. 


Deutsch-Polnisches Fachwörterbuch für Bauwesen. Redigiert von Dipl.-Ing. W. Wrzesień. Warszawa 1961. Słownik inżynieryjno-budowlany niemiecko-polski. Pod redakcją mgr. inż. W. Września. Warszawa 1961.

Awedyk, Wiesław

178 Reviews 
General Editor of Glottodidactica, Pro­
fessor L. Zabrocki. Among the subjects 
entrusted to the care of particular 
editors one notices Applied Linguistics, 
Programmed Learning, Technology. 
Speech and Hearing Science, the Teach­
ing of Culture. A predominance of 
material from English-speaking coun­
tries is apparent. The periodical brings 
authoritative abstracts written by the 
authors of the articles themselves and 
it informs its readers of international 
research and opinions concerning the 
teaching of Modern Languages from the 
primary stage to the level of academic 
study. The abstracts are written mainly 
in English and only occasionally in 
French and German as well. Each ab­
stract is provided with a number and 
Annual Indexes contribute to the per­
spicuity of arrangement and facilitate 
use. MLAbstracts is a periodical destined 
to fulfil the needs of all those who 
wish to keep up with the literature on 
Modern Language Teaching. 
The quarterly ought to be read by 
every language teacher, not only teach­
ers of English. Theoreticians of the 
methodics of teaching will also be very 
grateful for the information contained 
in the quarterly. It is a most timely 
periodical. It definitely helps the reader 
towards full orientation in the current 
literature of methodics and of cognate 
subjects. The more so, as it is increas­
ingly difficult to follow the articles 
scattered in a great number of special­
istic periodicals as well as in those 
from affiliated disciplines. 
MIECZYSŁAW KOBYLAŃSKI 
Langenscheidt’s “English Monthly” — “Mozaika” 
(A Review) 
Learning of foreign languages has 
recently become very common. For there 
are not many professions now where 
the konwledge of a foreign language is, 
if not indispensable, then very useful. 
The methods of learning are various 
according to the aim and the stage of 
advancement in a language. On the 
advanced level special magazines are 
very popular. Their purpose it not only 
to enlarge the vocabulary and to pre­
sent more difficult and rare gram­
matical structures, but also to give 
some information about culture (in the 
broadest meaning of this word) without 
knowledge of which full understanding 
of any language is not possible. 
„English Monthly”, edited in West 
Germany, is one of such magazines. It 
includes articles from various branches 
of human activity; for example, in 
No. 3 (March) 1962 there are articles 
about jazz, aircraftindustry, glass fab­
rics history of Britain, clubs; stories 
from every-day life, conversation, hu­
mour, and quiz. The permanent sec­
tions are: conversation, history, London 
diary (culture and nowadays problems 
of English society), chit-chat (the 
office of Justice of the Peace, lifeboat 
service), and humor. Difficult words 
and constructions with pronunciation in 
IPA symbols are explained by giving 
German equivalents. A special mark 
(AE) is given to the words used only in 
American English. The magazine has no 
separate grammatical section. 
Variety of texts and forms like 
story, conversation, chat are the ad­
vantages of „English Monthly” Pointing 
out Americanisms is useful. The lack 
of grammatical section is due to the 
high level of advancement. Humour 
helps the reader in better understand­
ing English people as well as the lan­
guage itself. Conversations, on the 
other hand, are full of idioms and 
grammatical structures, and therefore 
they sound artificially. There is one 
more serious objection. In conversations 
there are sometimes given wrong and 
unidiomatic phrases, which are after-
Reviews 179 
wards corrected. From the methodo­
logical point of view it is a serious 
mistake. 
In sum, „English Monthly” is a good 
guide for those who want to know 
English language better. 
Similar 1 in its purpose and design 
is a Polish magazine „Mozaika”. It ena­
bles the reader not only to master 
English language, but also gives some 
knowledge of history, literature, and 
every-day life. There are passages from 
books of the best classical and modern 
writers, articles about English customs 
and institutions, history and current 
problems, common idioms used in typical 
situations. In the grammatical corner 
difficult language problems are ex­
plained. Anecdotes, humour, puzzles, 
songs with texts and notes give amu­
sement and relaxation. New words and 
structures are explained in Polish. In 
a number of articles basic differences 
between British and American English 
in pronunciation and usage have been 
discussed. But the simplification of 
phonetic transcription does not seem 
to be justified, especially where the 
quality of vowels is in question. 
Finally, I would like to draw atten­
tion to one important methodological 
point — the mechanization. If a word 
or a structure appears for the second 
or the third time, it should be ex­
plained each time. In this respect „Mo­
zaika” is more consistent that „English 
Monthly”. That speaks in favour of the 
former, but it does not mean that 
„Mozaika” is better than „English 
Monthly”. They both are good and inter­
esting magazines and give the readers 
opportunity to make a progress in their 
knowledge of English language. 
WIESŁAW AWEDYK 
THE FINITE STRING. Newsletter of the Association for Machine Translation and 
Computational Linguistics, 
Published at Western Reserve University, 
Vol. 1, Number 3 — March 1964 
Diese Blätter der A s s o c i a t i o n 
f o r M a c h i n e T r a n s l a t i o n a n d 
C o m p u t a t i o n a l L i n g u i s t i c s 
erscheinen monatlich — 10 Hefte pro 
Jahr — ausser Juli und August. Sie 
werden von Dr. A. Hood Roberts — 
D e p a r t m e n t o f E n g l i s h , W e s t ­
e r n R e s e r v e U n i v e r s i t y , 
C l e v e l a n d , O h i o , 44106 — heraus­
gegeben. Sie berichten über die neue­
sten Ereignisse auf den im Titel ge­
nannten Gebieten; der Leser wird über 
die Arbeit bestimmter Institute, über 
die Tätigkeit verschiedener Wissen­
schaftler, über Publikationen und über 
Angelegenheiten der A s s o c i a t i o n 
informiert. 
In der vorliegenden Nummer z.B. 
erstattet Prof. Victor H. Yngve — 
M a s s a c h u s e t t s I n s t i t u t e o f 
T e c h n o l o g y , D e p a r t m e n t o f 
M o d e r n L a n g u a g e s a n d R e ­
s e a r c h L a b o r a t o r y o f E l e c ­
t r o n i c s , C a m b r i d g e 39, M a s s . — 
einen Bericht über die laufenden prak­
tischen und theoretischen Arbeiten im 
M. I. T. Die Aussicht auf eine praktische 
und adäquate maschinelle Übersetzung 
ist, seiner Meinung nach, noch nicht so 
nahe; dennoch ist er optimistisch. Die 
Nummer bringt weiter kurze Berichte 
über die Unternehmungen von Prof. 
Anthony G. Oettinger, Dr. Sally Y. Se-
1 „Mozaika” is for advanced learners. Beginners have their „Mała (Little) Mozaika”. 
Both the magazines appear in four languages: English, French, German and Russian. 


Langenscheidt’s “English Monthly” — “Mozaika” (A Review)

Kodematische Grundlagen der Theorie des Fremdsprachenunterricht

Kodematische Grundlagen der Theorie des Fremdsprachenunterrichts

Bzdęga, Andrzej

Reviews 161 
same author The Teaching of English 
(PWN, Łódź, Warszawa 1957). 
On the other hand certain works 
should have been included no matter 
how persistent the author's reservations 
might be. A pioneer work by Palmer 
A Grammar of Spoken English on Strict­
ly Phonetic Basis, Cambridge, W. Heffer 
and Sons Ltd. 1939 has its lasting place 
in any bibliography devoted to applied 
linguistics. One of the best monographs 
on the subject Language and Language 
Learning by Nelson Brooks, published 
in New York in 1960 by Harcourt Brace 
was, too, surprisingly enough ignored 
by the author. The absence of a collect­
ed effort of the Soviet authors entitled 
Mietodika naczalnowo obuczienija ino-
strannym jazykam (Methodology of 
Teaching Foreign Languages at the 
Beginners' Stage) edited by I. W. Kar-
powa and I. W. Rachmanowa is hard to 
be excused. „The Linguistic Reporter", 
Newsletter of the Center for Applied 
The book under review contains 
conversation drill materials being the 
result of the author's teaching expe­
rience carried away from the English 
classes for beginners organized at the 
International Press and Book Club 
(MPiK) in Warsaw in 1960/61. It is 
intended to complement a handbook 
proper. It must be said at the very 
outset that the booklet could also be 
useful in the second stage of a course 
started with an elementary oral prac­
tice without manual. 
The main goal of an oral practice 
like that presented by the author, is 
to activate the basic structures of spo­
ken everyday English, which cannot be 
done without a model and control of 
a teacher, possibly a native speaker. 
The value of the booklet is raised by 
Linguistics of the Modern Language 
Association of America, should have 
been listed among the periodicals. 
It seems obvious that a work of this 
type should also devote some space to 
listing the most important current text­
books used in teaching particular lan­
guages with short comments stressing 
their advantages and shortcomings. 
In conclusion, it is necessary to 
say that the discussed work treats of 
too many problems in too little space 
to be argumentative enough and con­
vince those who are not converted to 
views similar to those of the author, 
and for the very same reason those 
„converted" are not likely to find 
anything new in the book. We are of the 
opinion that all possible future attempts 
in this area should be much more 
specified so that the material covered 
in them can be treated in a more 
exhaustive way. 
TOMASZ P. KRZESZOWSKI 
a detailed methodical introduction. Some 
of the assumptions expressed in it are 
worth quoting. 
(1) „Mowa jest punktem wyjścia w nau­
ce języka". (2) „Mowy należy uczyć się 
przez mówienie (naturalne mówienie — 
słuchanie)." (3) „Kluczem do opanowa­
nia języka jest nauczanie się na pamięć 
(najlepiej ze słuchu) odpowiedniej ilości 
zdań — wzorców w sposób automatycz­
ny". (4) „Najtrudniejszym elementem 
w nauce języka jest nie samo zrozumie­
nie wzorów, ale ich zapamiętanie (któ­
rego zrozumienie jest częścią)". (8) 
„Wymiana elementów leksykalnych i wy-
rażeniowych zdania-wzoru przy zacho­
waniu niezmienionych treści gramatycz­
nych zdania jako całości (szyk zdania, 
słowa strukturalne, elementy fleksyjne) 
jest właściwą nauką gramatyki rozu­
mianej f u n k c j o n a l n i e " . 
For the specialist all this may be 
a matter of course, for an average teach-
LESZEK SZKUTNIK Ćwiczenia konwersacyjne do nauki języka angielskiego 
(Warszawa 1961) Kluby MPiK „Ruch", 16, pp. 331. 
11 Glottodidactica 
162 Reviews 
er and student of English, however, 
it is a question of account to realize or 
to recall these principles. Instructions 
as to how the material is to be han­
dled are not missed, either. They amount 
I 
Heading: new construction or idiom as 
the invariable member (word, phrase, 
sentence) 
The dialogue pattern consisting of in­
variable members (new ones and those 
learned before) 
Substitutes, i.e. the variable members 
of the complete dialogue of several 
sentences 
to the requirement of a frequent and 
small dosage of the exercises. The form 
and arrangement of the exercise texts 
can be scheduled as follows: 
II 
Complete dialogue pattern 
Polish translation of the complete dia­
logue pattern 
Free space for notes, e.g. phonetic ones. 
In the dialogues the two links 
form prevails: X. Question = Q, Y. An­
swer = A, X. Question = Q, Y. Answer 
= A. i.e. Q.A.Q.A., or in the inverse 
order like S.Q.A.Q.A. (S = statement, 
being structurally equivalent to answer, 
both represented by declarative sen­
tences). Very often a third link is added, 
e.g. S.Q.A.S., S.S.Q.A, Q.A.S.S, some­
times, like in dial. 91, 99 and 143, four 
links are introduced into the conver­
sation in a form of Q.A.Q.A (Q.A) or 
S.S.Q.A.Q.A. This variety of dialogue 
form can be completed by a pattern 
without the question link, among others 
by replacing the latter with an opta­
tive sentence (dial. 144, 150), e.g. I want 
you to help me with my work (instead 
of Won't you help...?). Occasionally the 
exclamatory forms occur (Let's go! Poor 
John!) but imperative links are missing. 
Most suitable will probably be a con­
versation drill comprising on each of 
the collocutors' part both question and 
answer (statement). Example Q.A.Q.A 
(dial 99): X. What will you do tomor­
row? Y. I'11 probably go to a football 
match, and what about you? X. I'11 
probably take a trip out of Warsaw. 
The lack of four links pattern is 
partly made up by a corresponding 
change of roles, a chain drill recom­
mended by the author in his intro­
ductory notes. The question tag con­
struction is made the object of the 
final two links exercises of the book. 
All conversations are made to fit 
the progression of the grammatical 
structures, introduced in accordance 
with the table of contents although the 
farther parts of the book their sequence 
is not so strictly followed. Among the 
initial structures the static and for the 
elementary conversation rather imma­
terial construction This (that) is . . . , The 
. . . is etc. has been omitted in favour 
of He (she, it) is . . . etc. The latter as 
referring to persons and not to things 
is with respect to its communicative 
value more productive and means less 
pronunciation difficulties for the be­
ginner. New vocabulary items appear 
partly arranged according to their mean­
ing in semantic fields. The antonymic 
opposition is made use of in the case 
of predicate adjectives only (dial. 3, 4, 
31, 33, 34), e.g. simple : complicated, 
useful : useless etc. The substitutes as 
well as the invariable members of the 
pattern are reintroduced in the subse­
quent dialogues, thus making possible 
their memorizing and gradual „auto­
matizing" for habitual areflective use. 
The slots of the substitute classes are 
uniformly denoted by numbers, e.g. 
1 = present infinitive, infinitive phrase, 
Reviews 163 
2 = predicate in simple past, 3 = past 
participle, 4 = adjective, adverb etc., 
when temporal phrase specially de­
noted by „t" (after for) and „p" (after 
since). 
In this book the conversational oral 
practice approach based on the sub­
stitution technique and on the paired 
sentences exercises (like the above 
mentioned SQ-link I'11 go probably to 
a football match, and what about you?) 
has been for the first time successfully 
adopted for Polish learners. This ap­
proach can be considered a moderate 
variant of the indirect method. It does 
not involve the traditional grammati­
cal and vocabulary analysis, common 
to most schooltextbooks with reader 
lessons, but it takes into account the 
native language of the student by 
offering comparison facilities with the 
Polish translation. Furthermore this me­
thod does not provide for the students' 
limits of age, although the text selection 
makes the book more suitable for adults. 
The pattern translation should be of 
auxiliary significance only, without 
evoking conscious reflexes as to the 
transformation of the English pattern 
content. The effectiveness of this ap­
proach finally depends not only on the 
manual but also on the teacher's 
ability to train the students in the pos­
sibly best way in what we call an 
areflective use of vocabulary and struc­
tures. Under the assumption of the pri­
mary character of speaking, determined 
by L. Zabrocki's concepts1 of analytic 
speaking (oral) code — making pos­
sible the aural perception of a text — 
and the synthetic speaking (oral) code, 
coupled with the latter — which governs 
the verbal reproduction — we have in 
our case an accessory transpositional 
relation between the analytic graphic 
code (governing the reading) and the 
before mentioned analytic oral code. 
1 Sprachkode: Zft. für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 14 
(1962) H. 1, p. 64—73. Sprachkode in der Erlernung von Fremdsprachen: Reprints of the 
Papers for the IX International Congress of Linguist, Cambridge (USA) 1962, p. 116. 
A kind of feedback to the speaking 
code may this be possible, which is 
supposed to reinforce the teaching pro­
cess. This may prove right in advan­
tageous circumstances only when spoken 
language predominates in our practice. 
Otherwise the graphic code as a re ­
flective transpositional one will in 
a retarding way interfere with the 
direct areflective coupling between the 
analytic and synthetic speaking codes. 
Generally speaking in the process of 
learning no positive transfer can take 
place between such skills as transla­
tion and grammar rules adoption (as the 
formal, paradigmatic and syntagmatic 
procedures) on the one hand and the 
active speaking — comprehending in 
the foreign language on the other hand. 
The only exception may be adults with 
deeply established habits and metalin­
guistic knowledge of the native lan­
guage oral and graphic code. Szkutnik's 
approach represents a kind of func­
tional (not formal, grammatical) para­
digmatic procedure and may be regarded 
as an integrant of the oral training 
activities. Except for possible inter­
ferences with the speaker's vernacular 
the transfer does not take place at all. 
The method could prove even more 
effective if supported by extralinguistic, 
i.e. visual and demonstrative aids and 
actions. Repeated listening and com­
paring through mechanical reproduction 
is left out of account here. 
After these general remarks it may 
not be amiss to touch on some method­
ical details. In the dial. 1—5 the au­
thor makes use of the predicate adjec­
tives despotic, tolerant, energetic, phleg­
matic, dogmatic, (in)discreet, (un) 
popular, (un)intelligent, egoistic, al­
truistic as substitutes which are foreign 
words current in Polish. Thus he pur­
posely takes advantage of the existing 
lexical analogy at this point between 
11* 
164 Reviews 
both languages in order to reduce the 
difficulties which the students encount­
er in adopting the elementary struc­
tures with is, is not, isn't2 . This may 
be methodically justified but adjectives 
like that sound unnatural and depart 
from the normal usage, especially as 
regards items of little communicative 
value, such as despotic, altruistic, 
dogmatic, probably used because of the 
antonymic opposition only. Also a few 
other expressions which at first appear­
ance look like polonisms probably, 
have not been introduced merely by 
chance, e.g. It's complicated (p. 52), 
after hours (p. 87), that depends, mo­
tives (p. 126). Some shortcomings in the 
translation of the full pattern into Pol-
ish could likewise be interpreted this 
way. There is hardly any methodical 
gain by a literal translation like that 
given on p. 79 and 149: I'd like him 
to be a good boy. „Chciałbym, żeby on 
był grzecznym chłopcem". I'm sure she 
must be flirting with John. „Jestem pe­
wien, że musi flirtować z Johnem". 
What makes you think so? „Co spra­
wia, że tak sądzisz?" To some of the 
dialogues are added witty and felic­
itous pictures drawn by Karol Ferster, 
illustrative of the situations touched. 
Das Handbuch besteht aus fünf 
Teilen — einem Einführungsteil, einem 
Hauptteil, einer Zusammenstellung der 
grammatischen Erscheinungen, einem 
„Schlüssel" und einem deutsch-polni­
schen und polnisch-deutschen Wörter­
buch. Technisch ist das Handbuch in 
neun Hefte gegliedert. Das erste Heft 
enthält das Inhaltsverzeichnis und den 
Einführungsteil, der aus Hinweisen für 
2 Of this methodical novelty the author informs in a separate paper: Języki Obce 
W Szkole 5 (1961), p. 308. 
Some doubt arises, however, about the 
scene taken from dial. 11. Without the 
respective subtitle He is tolerant the 
same scene on the cover must be looked 
upon as rather uncommon for English 
manners. 
The book is almost free of errors, 
the only misprints noticed are pleg-
matic on p. 15, et on p. 30, going on 
p. 235. Apart from stylistic questions 
I'd like to suggest following sentences 
to be corrected: I suggest that you 
should go to a dance (dial. 60) — 
should to be dropped; What may Henry 
be doing now? (dial. 73) — may to be 
replaced by can; . . . i t is complicated 
t o . . . (heading of dial. 22) — to be 
formulated more clearly. A certain 
simplicity of content of some dialogues 
is obviously due to the difficulties in 
obtaining a reasonable cross between 
the progressive introduction of new 
vocabulary and that of grammatical 
structures. 
To conclude: Szkutnik's „Ćwicze­
nia" present an easy and effective ap­
proach to the oral pattern practice. 
The lexical substitution technique adopt­
ed there deserves to be applied to the 
conversation patterns of other Euro­
pean languages. 
ANDRZEJ BZDĘGA 
den Lernenden und einer Besprechung 
der deutschen Aussprache und Ortho­
graphie besteht. Den Hauptteil machen 
50 „Lesestücke" aus; sie füllen die 
Hefte II bis VI. Das nächste Heft (VII) 
umfasst die Zusammenstellung der 
vorgekommenen grammatischen Er­
scheinungen. Das folgende Heft (VIII) 
enthält den „Schlüssel", d.h. es enthält 
Übersetzungen der Lesestücke und Lö-
ANTONI NIKIEL Język niemiecki dla początkujących. Państwowe Wydawnictwo 
„Wiedza Powszechna", 2 Aufl., Warszawa 1964. 


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